Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Chemical And Biological Trends During Lake Evolution In Recently Deglaciated Terrain, Daniel R. Engstrom, Sherilyn C. Fritz, James E. Almendinger, Stephen Juggins

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

As newly formed landscapes evolve, physical and biological changes occur that are collectively known as primary succession. Although succession is a fundamental concept in ecology, it is poorly understood in the context of aquatic environments. The prevailing view is that lakes become more enriched in nutrients as they age, leading to increased biological production. Here we report the opposite pattern of lake development, observed from the water chemistry of lakes that formed at various times within the past 10,000 years during glacial retreat at Glacier Bay, Alaska. The lakes have grown more dilute and acidic with time, accumulated dissolved organic …

Intensification Of The Northeast Pacific Oxygen Minimum Zone During The Bolling-Allerod Warm Period, Yan Zheng, Alexander Van Green, Robert F. Anderson, James V. Gardner, Walter E. Dean

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Although climate records from several locations around the world show nearly synchronous and abrupt changes, the nature of the inferred teleconnection is still poorly understood. On the basis of preserved laminations and molybdenum enrichments in open margin sediments we demonstrate that the oxygen content of northeast Pacific waters at 800 m depth during the Bolling-Allerod warm period (15-13 kyr) was greatly reduced. Existing oxygen isotopic records of benthic and planktonic foraminifera suggest that this was probably due to suppressed ventilation at higher latitudes of the North Pacific. Comparison with ventilation records for the North Atlantic indicates an antiphased pattern of …

Field Trip Guide (For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association) Eastern Nebraska Geology, Scott Summerside, Duane Eversoll, Mark Kuzila, Matt Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Arthur County Test-Hole Logs: Nebraska Water Survey Test-Hole Report No. 3, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., James W. Goeke

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

In 1930, the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) of the University of Nebraska and the United States Geological Survey began a program of cooperative groundwater studies in Nebraska. Since then test drilling by use of rotary drilling equipment has been an integral part of that program. This report contains logs of all the test holes drilled in Arthur County under the program as well as those drilled by the Conservation and Survey Division with financial assistance from other government agencies.

The maps in this report show the locations of all test holes drilled in the county since 1934.

Present techniques …

Ecology Of Elk In The Pine Ridge Region Of Northwestern Nebraska: Seasonal Distribution, Characteristics Of Wintering Sites, And Herd Health, Michael A. Cover

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Keith County Test-Hole Logs: Nebraska Water Survey Test-Hole Report No. 51, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., James W. Goeke

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

In 1930, the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) of the University of Nebraska and the U.S. Geological Survey began a program of cooperative groundwater studies in Nebraska. Since then test drilling by use of rotary drilling equipment has been an integral part of that program. This report contains logs of all the test holes drilled in the county under the program as well as those drilled by the Conservation and Survey Division with financial assistance from other government agencies.

The maps in this report show the locations of all test holes drilled in the county since 1934 (Figure la–d).

Present …

Shifts In Mid- To Late-Holocene Anion Composition In Elk Lake (Grant County, Minnesota): Comparison Of Diatom And Ostracode Inferences, Jasmine E. Saros, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Alison J. Smith

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The fossil diatom record from Elk Lake (Grant County, Minnesota) was used to reconstruct salinity and brine type between 2640 and 4645 ¹⁴C yr BP. This lake was selected for a brine-type reconstruction because a previous study using fossil-ostracode assemblages indicated a shift in anion composition during the mid-Holocene (Smith et al., 1997). Salinity was reconstructed using a transfer function developed for the Northern Great Plains (NGP) of North America; the reconstruction revealed that salinity was higher (1.5–6.2 g l⁻¹) between ~4000 and 4645 14C yr BP and dropped to 0.35–1.2 g l−1 after 4000 14C yr …

Changes In Primary Production Of Pawnee Reservoir As A Result Of Reservoir Aging, Kristopher A. Fischer

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Parent Brine Of The Castile Evaporites (Upper Permian), Texas And New Mexico, Walter E. Dean, Douglas W. Kirkland, Rodger E. Denison

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Upper Permian (lower Ochoan) Castile Formation is a major evaporite sequence (~10,000 km³) of calcite, anhydrite, and halite in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Traditionally the Castile brine has been considered to have been derived from seawater. This tradition has recently been challenged by two versions of the closed-basin drawdown model. They call for deposition from a mixed brine, in part marine and in large part nonmarine. They propose drawdown of as much as 500 m to form a major sink for ground water issuing from the surrounding Capitan reef complex. A large fraction of the …

Field Trip Guide For The Upper Republican And Middle Republican Nrd's Southwestern Nebraska Geology And Soils, Duane Eversoll, Jim Goeke, Mark Kuzila

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Hydrologic Variation In The Northern Great Plains During The Last Two Millennia, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Emi Ito, Zicheng Yu, Kathleen R. Laird, Daniel R. Engstrom

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Reconstructions of lake-water salinity at decadal resolution for the last 2,000 years are compared among three lakes in North Dakota to infer regional patterns of drought. The intersite comparisons are used to distinguish local variation in climate or hydrology from regional patterns of change. At one lake, diatom-inferred salinity and lake-water Mg/Ca inferred from ostracode shell chemistry are coherent, both in terms of direction and magnitude of change, indicating that each is a robust technique for reconstructing lake-water chemistry. The data show that the last 2,000 years have been characterized by frequent shifts between high and low salinity, suggesting shifts …

Dynamic Fluvial Systems And Gravel Progradation In The Himalayan Foreland, Nicholas Brozovic, Douglas W. Burbank

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Although the large-scale stratigraphy of many terrestrial foreland basins is punctuated by major episodes of gravel progradation, the relationships of such facies to hinterland tectonism and climate change are often unclear. Structural reentrants provide windows into older and more proximal parts of the foreland than are usually exposed, and thus provide key insights to earlier phases of foreland evolution. Our magnetostratigraphic studies show that, although the major lithofacies preserved within the Himachal Pradesh structural reentrant in northwestern India resemble Neogene facies in Pakistan, they have a much greater temporal and spatial variability. From 11.5 to 7 Ma, major facies boundaries …

Post-Mazama (7 Ka) Faulting Beneath Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, Steven M. Colman, Joseph G. Rosenbaum, Richard L. Reynolds, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

High-resolution seismic-reflection profiles (3.5 kHz) show that a distinctive, widespread reflection occurs in the sediments beneath Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Coring reveals that this reflection is formed by Mazama tephra (MT), about 7 ka in age. The MT horizon is faulted in many places and locally displaced by as much as 3.1 m. Differential displacement of multiple horizons indicates recurrent fault movement, perhaps three episodes since deposition of the Mazama. The pattern of faulting indicates northeast–southwest extension beneath the lake basin.

Upper Elkhorn Natural Resources District Cooperative Agreement, Field Summary Report 1998-1999, Susan Olafsen Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District Cooperative Agreement, Field Summary Report 1998-1999, Susan Olafsen Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Isotopic Signature Of Burial Diagenesis And Primary Lithological Contrasts In Periplatform Carbonates (Miocene, Great Bahama Bank), Tracy D. Frank, Karin Bernet

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The stable isotope geochemistry of Miocene sediments from the leeward margin of the Great Bahama Bank was examined to investigate burial diagenetic processes in periplatform carbonates. Data indicate that, in addition to differences in bulk proportions of neritic and pelagic carbonate along the slope, rhythmic variation in primary carbonate content has controlled patterns of burial diagenesis and associated geochemical signatures throughout much of the succession examined. The present study focuses on Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1006 and 1007, the most distal of five sites drilled from marginal to deep basin environments during Leg 166. These Miocene sections are characterized by …

Preliminary Results Of Bitumen And Whole-Rock Elemental Analyses Of Crp-2/2a, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, Richard Kettler, E. Papastavros

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sediments and rocks recovered in CRP-2/2A coring operations contain relatively little organic matter (average TOC=0.28%) and very small amounts of solvent-soluble organic matter. Because Early Oligocene sediment included significant amounts of coal detritus, TOC values are higher in Early Oligocene rocks than in younger rocks. TOC values are highest in the fine-grained rocks deposited as part of the highstand systems tract (HST) and TOC values decrease from the bottom to the top of the HST. The TOC:TN ratios observed in the CRP-2/2A core typically exceed 10, and are strong evidence that the preserved organic matter comprises a mixture of detrital …

Chronostratigraphy Of Crp-2/2a, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, G S. Wilson, S. M. Bohaty, Christopher R. Fielding, F Florindo, M J. Hannah, David M. Harwood, W C. Mcintosh, T R. Naish, A. P. Roberts, L Sagnotti, R P. Scherer, C P. Strong, K L. Verosub, G Villa, David K. Watkins, P N. Webb, K J. Woolfe

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The 624.15 m glaciomarine sedimentary succession recovered in the CRP-2/2A drillcore comprises lower Oligocene (< c. 31 Ma) to lower Miocene (18.5 Ma) strata that are overlain by a thin succession of Pliocene and Pleistocene strata. The age model for the CRP-2/2A drillhole, as presented in this paper, is based on combined microfossil biostratigraphy, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on volcanic material, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr analyses on mollusc shells, and correlation of a magnetic polarity zonation to the magnetic polarity time scale (MPTS). Between 25.92 and 109.05 metres below sea floor (mbsf), several alternative correlations to the MPTS are possible, all of which suggest that sediment accumulation rates averaged ~180 m/m.y. between unconformities, although actual sedimentation rates may have been higher. Between 109.05 and 306.65 mbsf, the age model is straightforward and average sedimentation rates were much higher …

Laser-Derived, Particle Size Data From Crp-2/2a: Implications For Sequence And Seismic Stratigraphy, K J. Woolfe, L K. Stewart, Christopher R. Fielding, M Lavelle

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Gravel-free, high-resolution (1-metre spacing, 32 channel) particle size data from the CRP-2/2A drill core indicate that many of the diamictites were likely deposited from floating ice. Textural dislocations occur at most sequence boundaries and provide independent corroboration of the sequence stratigraphic interpretation. Likewise the data largely support the correlation drawn (Fielding et al., this volume) between the sequence stratigraphic cycles and the regional seismic stratigraphy (an alternative correlation to Reflector ‘f’ is also suggested). The gravel-free data appear to be reflecting predominantly regional (global?) forcing with some possible local effects, and long-term trends persisting through gravelly textural dislocations.

Palaeogene Calcareous Nannofossils From Crp-2/2a, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, David K. Watkins, G. Villa

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rare calcareous nannofossils from the Cape Roberts Project drillhole CRP-2A indicate that this area was episodically invaded by marginal oceanic surface waters during the late and late early Oligocene. These depauperate assemblages lack most of the biostratigraphic index fossils for the Oligocene, but do provide two datums that aid in constraining the age of the section: the last appearance datum (LAD) of Dictyococcites bisectus (23.9 Ma) at 149.28 mbsf and the LAD of Chiasmolithus altus (26.1 Ma) at 412.25 mbsf. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages stratigraphically below c. 440 mbsf contain conspicuous evidence of reworking of older (late Eocene) specimens that renders …

Spaceborne Microwave Remote Sensing Of Arctic Sea Ice During Spring, Sheldon D. Drobot, Mark R. Anderson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper outlines the fundamental roles sea ice plays during the spring Arctic climate, and it demonstrates the use of passive microwave remote sensing in measuring climatically important sea ice variables during the spring transitional period. It discusses the theoretical concepts underlying passive microwave remote sensing of sea ice, and it summarizes the historical use of satellite microwave radiometry in the Arctic region. In addition, this paper discusses the derivation of climatically important sea ice variables, including sea ice extent, concentration, multiyear ice fraction, and snow melt onset, with additional comments on the precision and accuracy of the remote sensing …

Oligocene And Lower Miocene Siliceous Microfossil Biostratigraphy Of Cape Roberts Project Core Crp-2/2a, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, R. Scherer, S. M. Bohaty, David M. Harwood

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Marine diatoms are the primary biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental tool for interpreting the upper Palaeogene and lower Neogene strata recovered during the second drilling season of the Cape Roberts Project at site CRP-2 in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Silicoflagellates, ebridians, and a chrysophyte cyst provide supporting biostratigraphical information. More than 100 dominantly planktic diatom taxa are recognised. Of these, more than 30 are treated informally, pending SEM examination and formal description. Many other taxa are noted only to generic level. Lower Oligocene (c. 31Ma) through lower Miocene (c. 18.5 Ma) diatoms occur from 28 mbsf down to 565 …

Nutrients As A Link Between Ionic Concentration/Composition And Diatom Distributions In Saline Lakes, J. E. Saros, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Diatom profiles in closed-basin lake sediments are commonly used to reconstruct climate change based on the observed correlations between salinity (ionic concentration) and modern diatom assemblages. Diatom assemblages are strongly correlated not only with salinity but also anion composition, with certain taxa characteristic of carbonate systems and others sulfate-dominated waters. Although strong correlations exist, the actual mechanisms behind these correlations are unknown. Here we briefly review the influence of salinity and ionic composition on nutrient dynamics in saline lakes and suggest that these interactions may drive shifts in diatom species composition along gradients of ionic concentration/ composition. We discuss the …

Clay Mineral Composition Of Glacial Erratics, Mcmurdo Sound, Mary Anne Holmes

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Twenty-two erratics collected from coastal moraines along the shores of Mount Discovery, Brown Peninsula, Minna Bluff, on Black Island, and from the Salmon and Miers valley floors in East Antarctica were examined for their mineral composition in the <2 m fraction by x-ray diffraction to determine their provenance and the climate under which the sediment in the erratics formed. Semi-quantitative results from peak areas were subjected to principal components analysis and indicate that there are two distinct mineral compositions in the erratics (C = 0.05): A) dominant smectite group minerals, minor illite and kaolinite, and no chlorite, and B) dominant illite, subordinate smectite group, and either chlorite and R=l US clay or R=3 US clay. Group A erratics include two types: 1) Eocene age siliciclastic sediment and 2) volcaniclastics of unknown age. Group B erratics comprise three types: 1) Eocene age siliciclastic sediment dominated by illite with subordinate smectite, no chlorite, and very low levels of kaolinite and mixed-layer clays; 2) post Eocene age erratics dominated by illite with a major component of chlorite and R=l US clay, minor or no smectite and kaolinite; and 3) post Eocene age erratics dominated by illite and containing R=3 US clay. Eocene age sediment occurs in either group and so had two distinct provenances for the clay fraction: a smectite-dominant area and an illite-rich, smectite-poor area. Post Eocene age sediment also had two distinct provenances for the clay fraction and are different from the Eocene sources: a metamorphic + ancient sedimentary terrain that supplied chlorite, illite, and R=l US clay to some of the erratics, and a sedimentary terrain that supplied illite and R=3 US clay. Kaolinite levels are low, indicating the absence of intense weathering and/or any significant contribution from the Beacon Supergroup.

Geochemical And Mineralogical Evidence From Eolian Sediments For Northwesterly Mid-Holocene Paleowinds, Central Kansas, Usa, Alan F. Arbogast, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A prominent (4500 km²) dune field in the Great Plains is the Great Bend Sand Prairie of south-central Kansas. Dunes here overlie late Quaternary alluvium and were reactivated extensively in the late Holocene. Geomorphic and soil evidence suggests that the most likely eolian sand source is the Arkansas River valley to the northwest. Nevertheless, orientations of stabilized dunes indicate that the most recent dune-forming winds came from the south or southwest, in agreement with modern wind data.

Mineralogy and trace element concentrations in eolian sands of the Great Bend Sand Prairie are similar to those of the Arkansas …

Geochemical Variations In Peoria Loess Of Western Iowa Indicate Paleowinds Of Midcontinental North America During Last Glaciation, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Peoria Loess deposited in western Iowa during the last glacial maximum (LGM) shows distinct geochemical and particle-size variations as a function of both depth and distance east of the Missouri River. Geochemical and particle-size data indicate that Peoria Loess in western Iowa probably had two sources: the Missouri River valley, and a source that lay to the west of the Missouri River. Both sources indicate that LGM paleowinds in western Iowa had a strong westerly component, similar to interpretations of previous workers. A compilation of loess studies in Iowa and elsewhere indicates that westerlv winds were dominant during loess transport …

Paleoclimate Reconstruction Along The Pole-Equator-Pole Transect Of The Americas (Pep 1), Vera Markgraf, T.R Baumgartner, J. P. Bradbury, H. F. Diaz, R. B. Dunbar, B. H. Luckman, G. O. Seltzer, T. W. Swetnam, R. Villalba

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Examples are presented of inter-hemispheric comparison of instrumental climate and paleoclimate proxy records from the Americas for different temporal scales. Despite a certain symmetry of seasonal precipitation patterns along the PEP 1 transect, decadal variability of winter precipitation shows different characteristics in terms of amplitude and frequency in both the last 100 and last 1000 years. Such differences in variability are also seen in a comparison of time series of different El Nino/Southern Oscillation proxy records from North and South America, however, these differences do not appear to affect the spatial correlation with Pacific sea surface temperature patterns. Local and …

Modeling Regional Salinization Of The Ogallala Aquifer, Southern High Plains, Tx, Usa, S. Mehta, A. E. Fryar, R. M. Brady, Roger H. Morin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Two extensive plumes (combined area >1000 km²) have been delineated within the Ogallala aquifer in the Southern High Plains, TX, USA. Salinity varies within the plumes spatially and increases with depth; Cl ranges from 50 to >500 mg l21. Variable-density flow modeling using SUTRA has identified three broad regions of upward cross-formational flow from the underlying evaporite units. The upward discharge within the modeled plume area is in the range of 10^-4–10^-5 m³ day^-1, and the TDS concentrations are typically >3000 mg l^-1. Regions of increased salinity, identified within the …

Occurrence Of Pesticides In Rain And Air In Urban And Agricultural Areas Of Mississippi, April-September 1995, R. H. Coupe, M. A. Manning, W. T. Foreman, D. A. Goolsby, M. S. Majewski

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

In April 1995, the US Geological Survey began a study to determine the occurrence and temporal distribution of 49 pesticides and pesticide metabolites in air and rain samples from an urban and an agricultural sampling site in Mississippi. The study was a joint effort between the National Water-Quality Assessment and the Toxic Substances Programs and was part of a larger study examining the occurrence and temporal distribution of pesticides in air and rain in the Mississippi River basin. Concurrent high-volume air and wet-only deposition samples were collected weekly. The air samplers consisted of a glass-fiber filter to collect particles and …

Metal Exposure In A Benthic Macroinvertebrate, Hydropsyche Californica, Related To Mine Drainage In The Sacramento River, Daniel J. Cain, James L. Carter, Steven V. Fend, Samuel N. Luoma, Charles N. Alpers, Howard E. Taylor

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A biomonitoring technique was employed to complement studies of metal transport in the upper Sacramento River affected by acid mine drainage. Metals (Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Pb, and Zn) were determined in a resident invertebrate, Hydropsyche californica (Insecta: Trichoptera), and streambed sediments (<62 >μm) to assess metal contamination within a 111-km section of the river downstream of the mining area. Metals in H. californica also were interpreted to be broadly indicative of metal exposure in fish. Total Hg was determined in the whole body of the insect, whereas Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn were additionally separated into …